Preservatives have wide applications in fields like coatings including paints, caulks, slurries, building products, personal care, industrial, health and hygiene, pharmaceutical and wood protection. Preservatives can be a single agent or a blend of multiple agents.
Ideally, a preservative has broad-spectrum activity against all types of microorganisms at various pH levels. The preservative should also have high efficacy so that a minimum amount of the preservative can be used to save cost and to avoid or reduce any possible adverse effects caused by the preservative. Also, it is desirable that the preservative is stable to any changes in temperature encountered during manufacturing, packaging, and shipping as well as during storage of the preservative. Further, an ideal preservative is physically and chemically compatible with ingredients of different application systems so that one preservative can suitably be incorporated in various products.
In the past, various different preservatives and preservative blends have been suggested. For example, isothiazolinone compounds are widely used as biocides, isothiazolinones are known to be effective against a broad range of microorganisms.
In order to broaden even further the effectiveness of antimicrobial compositions containing an isothiazolinone, isothiazolinone has been combined with various other biocides. For example, in the past, isothiazolin biocides have been combined with pyrithione biocides. Such compositions, for instance, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,317,912 and U.S. Patent Publication No. 2007/0275094, which are both incorporated herein by reference.
Biocides, and particularly isothiazolin biocides, however, are somewhat expensive to produce and incorporate into a product. Further, isothiazolinone at greater concentrations can be a potential skin sensitizer. Consequently, a need currently exists for an antimicrobial composition and for a preservative that contains at least one biocide, such as an isothiazolinone at reduced amounts while providing efficacy against bacteria and other microorganisms.